Monthly Archives: August 2010

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Word for the day

eco-busted

Its a word I made up. I try and teach my kids to be wise in their use energy, but if I catch them wasting energy in a profligate manner like leaving the lights on in their bedroom when they leave the house, or leaving heaters on in vacant rooms then they are eco-busted.

Note: I have not yet had them eco-grounded when they are eco-busted, but maybe I should?

Word for the day

optionitis

It’s a word I’ve made up to describe that stunned sense of paralysis and confusion when faced with too many choices, like having 84 candidates to vote for on the Senate ballot for NSW.

But even worse than that, in the supermarket today I steeled myself and counted how many different variations of brand, size, flavour and dispenser there was on the toothpaste shelves.The result? A whopping 86 types of toothpaste to choose from! That’s a different one for every Senate candidate, with two to spare for Tony and Julia.

In Singapore you can be fined for chewing gum, in Australia you can be fined for littering, in Queensland you can be fined for swearing in public, but …

If I were elected to office …

… in Australia there would be a fine for using the phrase “un-Australian”. It’s a horrid, lame and lazy expression used by people who want to denounce something by appealing to a vague and non-existent higher principle without the irksome bother of having to articulate, justify or defend their denunciation.

We’ve had “Clean up Australia Day” for years – enough of that! Why not a “Clean up un-Australian Day” where all the uses, users, and abusers of this toxic phrase can be rooted out and flushed away. What a beautiful country we’d have then.

So here we are with election day tomorrow. In 35 days of campaigning I’ve given you 35 policy ideas/pledges and I’d like to finish by saying “vote 1 for me”, but sadly I’m not running for office, so…

Vote 1 for someone like me – you know it would be un-Australian not to.